Robert Davidson/History
|Edit Tab|style=margin:5px 0;}} Putting it into Practice Robert was first pulled into the abnormal activities surround St. Thom Huell after participating in a frog dissection practical in a Biology class, teaming up initially with Barnaby and Imogen, and later joined by Layla. Recruited to help Imogen with the work she failed to complete in class, he was dragged along by Imogen and Barnaby after they noticed Layla sneaking off. In doing so he was involved in a fight against a classmate-turned-vampire in the local cemetery, spending most of the fight cowering behind a tombstone. Despite the physical evidence before him and Imogen's employment of telekinesis, he refused to accept the existence of magic and monsters and attempted to prove this through the invention of a glove capable of lifting metal objects. Despite his misgivings Robert became increasingly involved in the nascent group's activities, initially focusing upon research but later being dragged in as the team's inventor and also an opportunistic combatant. His free reign in Computer Science classes was employed to do less-legal activities in Computer Science classes, after Layla's suggestions, penetrating the servers of not only the school, but also the British Law Enforcement and Intelligence Services. He also managed to perform tests on unknown materials in the science laboratories without teacher supervision. Robert has become somewhat more capable at handling himself in the field; while his physical combat skills may be lacking, he has performed a string of successful opportunistic attacks. Indeed, unlike his friends he has rarely received serious injuries in the field. While his first fight was rather inglorious, in his second at the Hellmouth his acquitted himself relatively admriably after a difficult start flailing at an opponent, managing to precisely execute a downed demon by stabbing it in the chest and later, accidentally killing a charging demon by flailing a stake at it, which the demon impaled himself upon. Afterwards, Robert was temporarily rendered incapable after unwisely deciding to study the runes and markings of the object in the school's basement, and briefly possessed to nearly cut himself to continue the ritual to open the Hellmouth. He was shaken out of it by Layla, but the machine and its inscriptions remains in Robert's memories. In the Incident at the popular fast food restauraunt Nando's Robert helped fight against the transformed Phillips brothers, turned into trolls. In the process he ended up gravely wounding, albeit not mortally, Ned. Invited to join St. Thom Huell's quiz team at the Brain Olympics in London, Robert was the driving force of STH's drive for glory, joined by Barnaby, Violet and Janet. In a somewhat-unusual burst of enthusiasm he managed to be more successful than Barnaby at the sport section and became quite aggravated at Barnaby giving opportunities to the other team by answering questions incorrectly. After the Ammit Scarab outbreak at the Alexandria, Robert largely performed in a support role but also briefly used a flamethrower which he produced ad-hoc from equipment in a cleaner's cupboard and used to good effect, but was later used by Gabriel O'Malley. Alongside Jane Murphy he fought using his hacking skills against the Ammit Scarab queen (?) and helped trigger a gas explosion that blew the top off the Alexandria Hotel and appeared to kill all of the scarabs in the process. The flamethrower was destroyed in the process. As the increasingly-complex nature of the new world to which he has been exposed to becomes increasingly clear, the effect on his world view has become a greater scar on his psyche which has yet to be healed. Robert has apparently never missed class or received detention, fitting his "goody-two-shoes" nature. After the trip to the Alexandria Robert was convinced by Layla to skip class to test his spell-detecting glasses on the Hellmouth, missing a Biology class marking the return of the now-vampired Mr. Miller. Thanks to his skills in hacking the school's record, he has managed to dodge detention and missing class due to manipulating the records. Unlike Imogen, of a similar nature when it comes to academic attendance and behaviour, neither this nor the behaviour of Mr. Miller appears to have fazed him signfiicantly. Socially awkward, Robert has never been to a club nor appears to have ever consumed alcohol before. After some prevarication, however, he was convinced to join the others in going to the opening night of The Basement nightclub in Little Rosewater, though it is unknown to what extent peer pressure or safety-in-numbers played in this decision. At the nightclub, he consumed some alcohol, but not great amounts due to James switching out his drinks for James' water. Robert spent his birthday night at The Basement and later, killing some vampires and using his magnetic glove and magrifle for the first time. Fighting alone for perhaps the first time, Robert managed to face off against the head of a vampire biker gang until a little old lady joined the fight on the bus, managing to wound the biker boss with his magrifle before throwing him off the bus with his magnetic glove. However, nobody but himself appeared to know that it was his birthday. The Oncoming Storm In the release of a Mesopotamian Golem in Greater Rosewater after a field trip to the Museum, Robert was not heavily involved in the fighting like his friends. However, after spending half an hour making it to the museum he assisted Imogen's efforts in understanding the cuneiform tablets there through online research. Later, he managed to stun the Golem by throwing a paper aeroplane at its mouth containing conflicting instructions ordering it to sleep in a stunning throw. Robert was involved in the incident at the hospital in Greater Rosewater, and used an armoured exoskeleton for the first time practically in the field there against Drox demons at the local stone circle. There he used the exoskeleton to enhance his dexterity to allow him to ambush the demons almost as well as Layla, and use his further-upgraded railgun to great effect against the demons. He also became somewhat considerably more accepting of magic in the process, using a spell to determine the gathering location for the Drox demons by himself, as Imogen was away at the time. After Barnaby's true Drox heritage was revealed, Robert took it better than the other members of the group, and naturally became somewhat withdrawn from Barnaby as a result. Nonetheless, Robert was vital in helping heal the newly-opened wound between the members of the group. In the aftermath of the Greater Rosewater Hospital incident Robert focused on attempting to upgrade his exoskeleton. Taking advantage of an improved intelligence memory spell by Imogen, practically doubling his intellect, Robert not only assisted in helping research James' ailments, but also some other things. On the fly he created an ad-hoc Wi-Fi dongle and managed to break into the British Army's systems. Posing as a senior general officer, he used this breach to request an airdrop of servos that he required for upgrading his suit, ultra-modern armour plate and a laser sight on top of the school dorms; this was code-named "Operation Periwinkle". As the group started to suspect Mr. Penrose, the librarian, even more, Robert became involved in the campaign against him. In the first fight in the school's book store in the school's basement Robert contributed little, due to being unarmoured and unarmed at the time. However, he would quickly prove his value. Using his Wi-Fi dongle to research ways to combat Penrose, whom it was discovered was a fallen angel, Robert discovered the main routes to hurt Penrose - sky iron and the Sphere of Dagon - finding sky iron, a sky iron dagger and a sphere in Greater Rosewater's museums - and using the sky iron to fashion stakes for his railgun. The research Robert discovered was consistently reliable, due to Penrose's inability to influence the internet, only pen and ink. Unfortunately, Robert was unable to make the connection and wrote instructions in the Golem's mouth in ink, which allowed Penrose to ambush Layla. He was suitably regretful on finding this out, and made a habit of using pencil in the future. In the final engagement against Penrose, Robert fought in his fully-upgraded exoskeleton, upgraded using equipment from the Operation Periwinkle airdrop. However, it was discovered on retrieving the package that the optic was not there, but an M72 LAW was. Robert's railgun was paramount in taking down Penrose, hitting him several times with both wooden and sky iron stakes. After the fight Robert went to celebrate with the group in Imogen and Layla's room. Unfortuantely, the party was broken up when Mr. Miller opened fire on the room's window, killing James and wounding Robert, who got hit by a bullet scraping against his scalp, falling unconscious in the process. Due to the lack of medical knowledge among his friends, the severity of his wounds was not apparent. He was healed by a grossly-empowered and topless Imogen. After memorising the sight of Imogen topless, Robert grabbed his gear before running after Barnaby and Layla. At a shed at the edge of the school he discovered the traces of shell cases and a discarded L85 assault rifle, which Robert quickly realised had been stolen by Miller from the airdrop. After raging at the military's incompetence, Robert grabbed the scope off the rifle, discarding it as it was out of ammunition and had a broken barrel. Robert followed Layla and Barnaby, informing the police about the shooting after locating a phone box. After finding a second phone box, Robert improved his incendiary device using parts of the phone, the rocket launcher and incendiary grenade. He would catch up to Layla and Barnaby fighting Miller and his cronies at a warehouse, throwing the bomb into a gathered group of vampires, killing many and stunning the rest. In a surprising show of force Robert managed to intimidate all of the surviving vampires bar Mr. Miller into running away, despite lacking his armour suit due to it being powered down. Robert would not contribute to the quarrel over Mr. Miller's life, being too far away. Nonetheless, he had his railgun ready, demurring to fire when he realsied that Miller's soul had been restored. After Imogen ended her empowered state Robert started bleeding again from the wound on his head and fell unconscious, and was rushed off to hospital by Layla. In his introspection in the Hospital Robert became extremely frustrated at his inadequacy in helping his friends and saving James; his technology had been useless, and in fact had helped get James killed due to Miller being able to get a hold of the rifle. Robert was visited by Janet in the Hospital, who informed him that she knew that the group was somehow involved in her getting her intelligence back, thanking him and them for it. While aware of some of the supernatural stuff going on, she told Robert that she didn't want to be part of the group after he tried to invite her, preferring to become an engineer rather than risking getting killed due to being close to the group. Despite this, Robert appeared to maintain and indeed develop romantic feelings towards Janet. Robert also got visited by Violet, they talk about caring and why she grants wishes is she doesn't care about the people she grants the wishes for. Violet says she's still finding out what caring means and that it might be the difference between being mortal and immortal. Robert answers in that case he would prefer to be mortal and care about things than being indifferent and immortal. Violet thanks Robert for his insight and gives him a idol that can turn someone in a bunny. In episode 14 Robert attended James' funeral and working out that Barnaby and Imogen where planning to bring back James he returned home and took several of Penemue's books to the workshop, fearing what Barnaby or Imogen might do with it. Later in the episode when trapped in the library within the book Violet took from Penemue, Imogen and Layla found a book intimately detailing Robert's life. In Robert's book in the Library of Fates Told, it was discovered that Robert's middle name was Gaius, and that he has had rather intimate dreams involving Janet. Imogen and Layla used Penrose's pen, taken as a trophy after their victory, to write in Robert's book, alerting him of the danger Imogen, Layla and Violet were in, being trapped in a book with a portal to the Library of Fates Told. Rushing to Violet's room, where the book was, Robert was joined by Barnaby, and the two figured out a way to get the three girls out after Robert was hit in the face by a flagstone due to accidentally teleporting a flagstone through by poking it in the book with a ruler. Prior to this occuring Layla ripped out Robert's book from the Library and took it to the "real" dimension with her. It was also found out that Robert planned to send a signal through to Heaven, in an attempt to contact James. Imogen reacted badly, revealing it to the group and chewing him out before storming out of the room; Robert managed to grab the library book, his life book and Penemue's pen. Robert later read his book, which he discovered contained a lengthy detailing of his life up to the point where the book was ripped from the Library, including perspectives which he could not have had, and his dreams in full, which included intimate dreams about Janet. The book's text could only be read outside of the library by himself. Later, while trying to return to the workshop, Robert encountered Imogen and Layla making out in the common room, before beating a hasty retreat. On returning to his room, he found Violet waiting for him, who tried to seduce him but was turned down. Robert's attempt to construct a device capable of sending a message to Heaven came to fruition after the other three agreed to use this at the very least as a test to make sure that James was alright and to determine whether James wanted to return from the dead or not. Imogen eventually apologised for her conduct towards Robert, confessing that Robert was closest friend (aside from Layla), though Imogen became somewhat distracted due to Layla's presence in the workshop and in some ways the apology turned into a mild chewing-out of Robert stealing books in the first place. Robert constructed his device in the old stone circle, managing to contact James via video feed for approximately five minutes. James informed Barnaby that he wished to remain in Heaven, causing Barnaby great anguish. As the communications tower self-destructed as their time ran out, Robert was affected by the after-effects of breaching dimensions, with his body occupied by an alternate counterpart of his soul. This became prominent immediately after the tower collapsed, making Robert more assertive and helpful; in this "nega-state" Robert decisively argued that the tower had to be cleared away. Robert also used his skills to play the stock market for Barnaby, patenting his Wi-Fi invention and making lots of money so that Barnaby could buy up Penemue's library under the school. Later, once the after-effects of the tower became clear, with Barnaby being a dick in Biology Class and Layla apparently losing all of her inhibitions afterwards, Robert became an observer of the chaos that ensued, attempting to offer some mediation but largely failing. As Barnaby, Layla, Violet and Robert went to the storage units where Barnaby had stored Penemue's books, and where Imogen had gone. Imogen had entered her "nega-state", and had started burning books, proclaiming that they were dark and that the others didn't want her to do dark magic. As attempts to put out the fire and to talk down Imogen had failed, she recalled Layla's apparent dalliances with Brian, and used the "blood snake" spell she had employed against Penemue against Robert, draining a severe amount of Robert's blood and making him fall unconscious. As he fell unconscious, Robert activated his suit, faintly aware that it was not doing anything. Robert was only saved when Violet, who had been spying on the workshop, revealed that she knew the combination to depowering the suit, removing it and allowing Barnaby access to determine his condition. After Violet had exorcised tha alternate-selfs from the group, an incredibly faint Robert was taken to hospital by Barnaby, leaving behind Layla and Imogen, who not only had their own issues to deal with, but the latter of which attempted to deal with very nearly killing her closest friend and self-confessed conscience, even though Robert appeared to bear no grudges towards her. Later, when Imogen came to visit him in the hospital he bore no grudges towards her and tried to soothe her worries, reassuring her that he trusted her with his life and later willingly consuming a healing potion that she created. Robert's confinement in the hospital was a harrowing experience. After being confined for longer due to contracting the flu, Robert encountered a possible monster murdering a lone patient in their ward with a rather terrifying visage, wearing a black hat. He escaped and managed to call Barnaby to rally his friends and Violet to his assistance. There they vainly attempted to figure out the identity of the monster and tried to stop it. Ultimately the monster, who they discovered to be "Der Kindestod", and cornered thanks to Violet's spy sigils. While Robert was able to see the monster, who was invisible only to the hallucinating or highly ill (which was why he saw him earlier but not with his own eyes when they fought him) thanks to his glasses, Robert was overwhelmed by the monster despite wearing his dexterity suit and using his minaturised railgun, his gear still soaked in his own blood (his armour plate being completely soaked it in and unusuable before cleaning). Later, Robert was revisited in hospital by Imogen, who again offered to heal him, though she still expressed doubt at his ability to trust her. Unfortunately, Imogen was distracted in the process and produced a potion that magically caused the inflammation and swelling of the cells around Robert's gullet and windpipe, basically choking him to death until Imogen frantically pulled the alarm to summon the crash cart. Robert was intubated and confined for the hospital for longer, with Imogen visiting to give him his homework. Despite being nearly killed by Imogen twice (three times if one counts the ultimately-failed attempt to heal him after he was shot), Robert held no grudges against her. Robert was visted by his father, Mr. Davidson, who had called him before Imogen's visit and had rushed to the hospital after hearing that his son had another life-or-death experience again. Mr. Davidson had moved to Little Rosewater as the school's fire safety officer, moving into Mr. Miller's old house. Once Robert could be allowed out he was looked after at home by his father, and helped into dorms by his father, who left a box of chocolates and a "get well soon" card. Robert, while recuperating, looked into options of staying at home after his father mentioned his financial issues. Eventually Layla revealed to Robert that while he was away Mr. Davidson had introduced him to her as her Slayer. Barnaby also mentioned that he had tried to kill him once, and the four confronted Mr. Davidson about this, who took Robert on a drive around the village. Mr. Davidson revealed the truth behind Robert's family's past to him, apologising to his son that he did not want to deceive him, but that Mr. Davidson and the late Mrs. Davidson, spouse of Mr. Davidson and Robert's mother, had agreed before his birth to do so and to protect him from the dangers they faced. He revealed to Robert that he was not a firefighter, as Robert presumed, but a former demon hunter with experience against fire demons. Mr. Davidson also mentioned that when Robert was 11, his mother was killed in South America when on a mission with his father. The two were split and his mother killed by the demons. After Robert revealed that he was helping Layla, his father was concerned but proud after Robert showed him his inventions. Nonetheless, Mr. Davidson asked his son to take care of his studies, and told him that he did not want to get between his son and his friends for asking for information behind their backs. He still asked Robert for a report once the others had agreed on what to tell him. Afterwards, Robert realised that Barnaby might have had a part in his mother's death and had a slight mental breakdown as a result. He was taken to sit down on a bench by Layla. Family, Friends and Foes "Was it quick?" - Robert Davidson Afterwards, Barnaby avoided Robert to prevent Robert from attempting to talk through the matter of his mother's death. As Christmas came up Robert intended to spend it with his father at their new home, but the lack of maintenance in light of Edward Miller's death had left the house in a poor state and the pipes in the house quickly froze up. Left with the prospect of a cold Christmas, Robert took up Imogen's offer to stay at the Parkers' for Christmas. There he would experience events that would change his life. Arriving at the Parkers' after giving a jump start to Barnaby and Layla on the side of a A road en route to the Parkers', Robert attempted to speak with Barnaby, who agreed to talk to him in private at the Parkers'. Later, having arrived, Robert and Barnaby tried to talk. However, Barnaby started with a subject matter Robert was not expecting. Robert and Barnaby had made a significant sum of money playing the stock market and using Robert's patents on Wi-Fi. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Layla's parents had invested heavily on banking on the success of Robert's Wi-Fi. When the Wi-Fi devices ceased working outside of Little Rosewater, Layla's parents' company was hit heavily, and Layla had confided this to Barnaby as the reason for why she could not be with her parents over Christmas. This Barnaby told Robert, which briefly distracted Robert, before Robert managed to steer the direction of the conversation towards whether Barnaby was there at his mother's death. Before they were distracted by the entrance of Mr. Davidson and Mr. Parker, Robert managed to coax Barnaby into admitting that he was there. Later, the group of friends opened presents which Barnaby had brought along. Barnaby brought Robert some specialist tools and a new laptop, after Barnaby had broken Robert's in rage after contacting James; Robert waved off the apology, saying that the olive branch was not necessary but appreciated nonetheless. As they moved to the other presents it became clear that they bought by James for them. Fittingly, James bought a hard leather laptop case with an inbuilt battery to extend battery life. Robert quietly accepted the present from his fallen friend. When the group went outside for some fresh air after mourning for James again, an introspective Robert, playing with his torch to see whether it still worked to repel vampires, confronted Barnaby after Imogen ordered the two to talk it out. He asked Barnaby to confirm whether he was there, and reluctantly Barnaby told Robert what happened. The Drox (including Barnaby) were on the hunt, and attacked the Davidsons, who may have been out to find them in the first place. He fought Robert's father, but lost and was allowed to flee. Afterwards, the Drox regrouped and attacked again, splitting the Drox. Barnaby managed to corner Alice Davidson, Robert's mother, but Barnaby emphatically stated that he could not recall what happened next. At this point Robert pleaded with Barnaby, asking him whether his mother's death was quick. Barnaby could not say that it was. Robert then walked away, before being invited by Imogen to accompany her to get some holly for the Parkers. While away from the other two, Robert eventually came around to a degree of acceptance about Barnaby, but their friendship had been heavily marred by this new revelation. Robert was also quite distraught that his equipment wouldn't work outside Little Rosewater and that he was only useful because of the Hellmouth, but Imogen reassured him that the Hellmouth did not make him intelligent, he had only exploited it and had no way of knowing that his gear wouldn't work away from Little Rosewater. On their way back, Imogen and Robert were accosted and trapped by a group of carollers, whom they realised were vampires. While Imogen managed to deceive them, offering to take them back to her house to see whether her parents would let them in and give them stuff for the vampire carollers' "blood drive", Robert attempted to reach Imogen but failed. He managed to realise that the vampires considered him disposable, and made preparations accordingly. When he was taken away by a vampire to be fed on, Robert crushed the Lindt bunny that he had been given by Violet, having written the vampire's name, Chris, upon the bunny. He then threw the bunny away and raced to stalk the vampires. In the ensuing fight outside a garishly decorated house, Robert managed to join the fight from behind, having escaped the vampires' notice. After Imogen had been knocked prone, Robert soaked his scarf in some holy water he was carrying, wrapping that around the face of a vampire threatening Imogen. Together Robert and Imogen attempted to kill this single vampire, Imogen trying (and failing) to stake it from the front, Robert pushing the vampire into the stake from behind while wrapping the scarf around its face. Eventually they managed to kill it. Still surrounded by vampires, Imogen eventually cast an illusion of an angelic choir that caused all of the vampires to be dusted. As Barnaby had entered Drox form and inadvertently yelled out a Drox hunting cry in an attempt to use the horrible sound to weaken the vampires (which it did, just not kill them), when the four went back to the Parkers they encountered Robert's father again. George Davidson had armoured up, with his sawn-off and axe ready, and asked the teens whether they were alright. They confirmed that they had dusted some vampires, but when Mr. Davidson asked whether they saw a Drox demon, all of them - including Robert - flatly denied it. As they returned to the Parkers. Mr. Davidson, as he led them back, mentioned that snow did not remain easily on the Drox, and Barnaby was surrounded by a patch uncovered by snow. As they returned, Robert confided in Barnaby that he was alright, for now. On their way back to Little Rosewater, Robert started reading His Book again, turning to the pages after his birth. Completely unbeknownst to him, and which his father had never mentioned, he discovered he had a twin, elder brother. Both he and Robert had been taken by the Drox at birth, but their parents had managed to breach the Drox plane to rescue Robert, Alice Davidson casting a spell to remove the Drox essence from Robert at the cost of weakening him; Robert's elder brother could not be rescued, but as a side-effect of the spell retained a sliver of his humanity. Distraught, the Davidsons retreated with only one of their sons, Alice Davidson casting a spell so that they would forget their lost child. His name was Barnaby. The Boy Fate Forgot Robert was extremely conflicted on his journey home, but after hurrying to his dorm and spending some time in his dorm - telling Charity, who had somehow climbed up the drainpipe outside his room and who was looking for Layla to go away - Robert attempted to rationalise his thoughts. After telling Barnaby, who was buying pizza and kebabs for the group, to go away, Robert was eventually cornered by Layla and later Barnaby. After some internal conflict he managed to enunciate that Barnaby was his brother, though Barnaby did not believe it on account of their physical differences. After Layla appeared to be physically prevented from talking about the matter they called Imogen, only for the line to be cut. Thus, they went and researched the matter, finding out that the spell was very powerful and the memories were contained by Robert's mother in a crystal of some kind, which Robert later determined to be his mother's engagement ring. He decided not to destroy it then and there, seeking to find a way for his father to not kill Barnaby on finding out. His friends appeared to lose recollection of him discussing his and Barnaby's parentage, so he was forced to repeat it again and again. When Imogen was being trailed by Barnaby's Drox sire, Bur'nakk, Robert helped the others in researching The Child after Imogen called to give them an update, having gone with Layla and Barnaby to the countryside in an attempt to draw out Bur'nakk by getting Barnaby to roar a Drox hunting cry. Eventually The Child attempted to give offers to the members of the group to get Imogen out of the demon market plane she was trapped in (while being pursued by an angry Bur'nakk), but The Child could not see Robert. Robert could see Layla speak to The Child, but could not see her either, even with his magic-seeing glasses, and ended up bumping into her after attempting to discern the Fate's position by looking at the area Layla was speaking to. It transpired that the removal of Robert's Book from the Library of Fates Told by Layla had caused him to be unbound by Fate with the exception of The Cutter of Fate, who could see him in her guise as the Old Lady on the Bus in the hospital after the book was removed due to Robert being ill and close to death due to her association with death. After Barnaby decided to make a deal and was whisked away by The Child, Robert attempted to prepare the Drox-detecting spell he had cast weeks before but there was insufficient time before Barnaby was returned with Imogen, Barnaby having apparently traded away his Drox fate for Imogen's safety and three days' time of preparation against Bur'nakk. With Barnaby now apparently human Robert and the others went to visit George Davidson, where Robert made the decision to smash his mother's engagement ring. After explaining that there was a memory spell in the ring to his father, George Davidson decided to smash it himself after hearing that there was no other alternative. When the crystal was smashed a great wave of green and black power left the object and the memories quickly returned. George immediately went to smash Barnaby's head in, only for Robert and the others to step in front of Barnaby and explain that Barnaby was no longer evil and was now fully human. George then used a potion to test whether Barnaby had a reaction after it was exposed to bleeding flesh; when Barnaby visibly experienced pain and exclaimed, George tightly embraced him, accepting him as his lost son, now fully human and returned, quickly grabbing Robert in the hug too. The reunited family of the three Davidsons stayed at Mr. Davidson's house for tea and to watch a game of rugby. Later, taking advantage of intelligence-raising spells from Imogen, Robert worked on his devices. In a moment of opportunity, Robert visited Violet in an attempt to get part of the paving slab from the Library of Fates Told, and convince her to join them. Violet was not forthcoming, giving Robert only a corner of the paving slab. When Robert brought up the concept of "an eye for an eye", Violet ran away excitedly. Before the fight Robert had an emotional talk with his father, telling his father to take care of himself. In the fight Robert called in a drop pod containing a Droxbuster suit. Violet showed up-mid fight, having taken Robert's "advice" to heart, turned the demon form of Barnaby - in fact Bak'tarbe after Barnaby's deal - and turned the Drox into a human, to her confusion when she spotted a very human Barnaby, before running away. When Robert activated his Droxbuster suit, transported to the battlefield via drop-pod, it rapidly changed the course of the fight as he quickly downed the Drox trapped under the pod with a swipe of his chainsword. Robert inflicted terrible damage upon the Drox and upon Bur'nakk, which was accelerated by Robert's fury when George Davidson was knocked unconscious, bleeding, by the Drox Lord. Ultimately, Robert slew Bur'nakk by decapitating the Drox, his chainsword turning the Drox's head into pulp. Before he slew the millenia-old Drox he simply stated that he was disappointed in him, and finally avenged his mother's death. AFterwards as the others rushed to stabilise George and call an ambulance Robert spotted a magical glimmer after Layla had been shot by a heart-shapped arrow. Taking a snapshot with his stakethrower, he downed the creature, which he interrogated alongside Imogen. It stated that it was a Cupid LLC Employee and tasked to kill the targets on a list he was given; Layla was a target because Imogen had told Robert to tell Layla (in the event of Imogen's death) that she (Imogen) loved her (Layla). Once Imogen had thrown the Cupid demon away, she told Robert that she wasn't mad at him for not telling Layla after he apologised and tried to explain himself. Right before the exams, Robert used his hacking skills to help Barnaby get some of his money back. As a consequence of spending so much time on his devices and in his worry for his father's condition - George spent some two weeks in hospital - Robert did extremely badly in the January exams, with grades much lower than he had previously obtained and comparable to Layla's; even Barnaby's were better than his. The New Year In the New Year Robert and Barnaby remained in dorms, but the two ended up sharing a dorm and struggling to adjust to this new development. On Friday 13th 1998, as the school was preparing a Valentine's Day event, Robert ended up in Maths sitting next to Janet, who appeared thinner and paler than usual. Janet was surprised at this, having spent the past months trying to avoid him, but the two had an awkward conversation where Janet revealed that she hadn't been doing well in class. Robert shared these concerns, since he too had to resit exams, and so attempted to cheer her up. This was cut short by the crushing of Julian Carroway under a shelf, that triggered Robert into joining with his friends in discovering what had caused this. Eventually Robert visited Violet with Layla, and after some griping at Robert for still keeping her book to the Library of Fates Told, they found out that it could potentially be a hex. Robert did not contribute much to the discovery that it was indeed a hex, but helped keep watch with Barnaby as Imogen broke into Mrs. Brown's office, and later into the maths class where Julian had died, and these events confirmed the suspicion that the school Valentine's cards were hexed somehow. While meeting up with Layla in the Sixth Form common room to discuss this, one of the prefects gave Robert one of these cards, which he eventually opened with a pencil, thinking that the hex was activated by touch. The author, addressing the card to "Bobbert", stated that they were sorry that they had turned him down and that they wished that they had the courage to ask him out again; it was signed "J.". After being chewed out by Imogen for reading it, she noticed a strange silver strand appeared from his chest, flailing about towards the dorms. Later, they saw the Old Lady from the Bus that quickly met Robert's eyes, though she was flickering to his eyes. She disappeared when they ran out to talk to her, and they escorted Robert to the card office, with him cosntantly seeing her smirk quizzically at him and then disappear. Robert did not contribute much to the fight against Horus Grant, the perpetrator of the hex, as Layla kept him out of the fight out of a fear that he would be killed by the hex like the other victims. After Horus' death at the hands of the old lady in her form as death, Robert could not see her when she spoke to the others. However, when she manifested herself as death again, she was visible, albeit flickering. Afterwards, Robert hypothesised whether he could act against the Fates as a last-ditch contingency, and was advised by the others not to. Eventually he was asked about his Valentine's card, and after teasing he revealed that it was probably from Janet. They suggested he ask her out, but he was conflicted that she would be hurt. Layla brought up her concern for her friends' safety, and they suggested that he ask her out anyway, and that she didn't have to join their adventures. After Horus' death, Robert assisted the others in helping Violet with her rabbit issue, and helped the others set up surveillance of Layla and Imogen's room after a Valentine's card was stuck to their window, though Robert suspected it was Charity all along. After it transpired that Charity was a vampire, Robert searched the records to determine that she was formerly a student at STH named Katherine Winters, a former Slayer who was vampired in 1988. Later, the others brought up Robert's Valentine's Card and suggested he talk to Janet, and he did, though Janet managed to divert the conversation. This led to nothing, to his friends' frustration, and the others tried to get them to have a date together. Imogen eventually spoke to Janet in the girls' toilets and offered their (emotional) support to her, and Janet agreed to one date with Rob. After Imogen later found the eviscerated corpse of Tom Whisker, a handyman, Robert helped with research, finding out that a student named Jocita Rose died in the loos 12 years ago, while another, Bella Scythe, died 6 years ago. It was eventually narrowed down that the ghost in the toilets was Bella. Robert helped the other in the séance to speak to Bella, where he managed to connect to her through finding out her interest in English literature and referencing Hamlet in extorting her to assist them to vanquish whoever killed her. Rob found Tom Whisker's corpse particularly queasy, and was not of much assistance. Later that day, when they identified (through Rob's memory) that the new student Aeneid Daly was probably the killer - a kelpie or some other water monster - Rob and Barnaby patrolled the boys' toilets. When the water started moving, Rob was sent off to get Layla and Imogen, but failed to miss that Aeneid was just outside. In the ensuing fight against Aeneid Rob managed to get a shot from his watch off at the kelpie, but spent most of the fight flailing around underwater, then flailing around with the magically-moved water trapped in his armour. Afterwards, Rob tried to find Janet again, but had no success.